Chapter 14
Swimming for shore was out of the question. I was too damn tired. A sea-change had occurred--I now wanted to live another day. Swimming for Japan was postponed. The god of death, having jumped up and run to the balcony railing to watch my undoing now returned to his seat to wait for another try at me later.
I had been thoroughly drown-proofed in the SEALS and although too tired to swim to the certain safety of land, assumed the position, floating just beneath the surface, gulping a breath, floating some more, fluttering the hands to bob to the surface, gulping and so forth. I could go on like this for hours if need be. After a time, I felt a little stronger and began a slow lazy backstroke towards the shore. Time and tide had carried me perhaps a hundred yards south of the beach house, so I relaxed and made slow but steady progress. Which was when I heard the boat coming. Heard, rather than saw, because it was approaching slowly from the open ocean, running lights out. I nearly laughed in spite of myself as it came into view. It was a 15-foot Zodiac raft, a boat with which I am well-acquainted. There were four men besides the coxswain at the tiller, and nothing about their menacing outlines against the faintly glowing Los Angeles nighttime sky suggested lost tourists. No, this was something launched from a yacht somewhere farther out specifically to insert a lightly armed raiding party into the Malibu colony. Except this was no ordinary group. The fortuitous identity of the coxswain was not lost to me. It was none other than Lenny Poon himself.
Lenny was going to run straight over me, not looking, as he should have been, for his personal demise to be awaiting him in the form of a big naked man a hundred yards off shore out for a midnight swim. I adjusted my angle slightly and began to crawl into his path just in time to snag my hand on a rope and enjoy the tow into shore. The craft lurched slightly as it picked up my bulk, but nobody went crazy or anything. As I said, nobody was looking for death to suddenly arrive from a hitchhiker in the breakers. The craft beached and four men headed quickly up the beach to a place where, I was certain, Johnson and his dog would be more than a match. Meanwhile, I had business with the coxswain, who stayed behind to provide security for the craft.
Bobby, I thought, moving up to within inches of Poon from behind. It is time for retribution.
The End
Also by this author:
The Most Dangerous Time. A frightened woman leaves her abusive husband only to find he now intends to kill her. In spite of this, she feels the need to go back to him. Her friends, however, have other ideas, including a fresh romance and a wicked revenge plot.
Jackie's Week. A single woman goes into hiding after she is attacked by a thug, but finds herself the target of assassination when she discovers he has tracked her down. Struggling with PTSD and panic attacks, she must find a way to pull herself together and fight back.
All That Was Happy. A woman undergoes a nasty divorce and finds herself experiencing suicidal depression and panic attacks. She desperately seeks relief in the arms of a younger man and gets a lot more than she bargained for.
A Small Matter. A lonely woman is given a death sentence of pancreatic cancer. She decides not to fight it but her best friend has other ideas, including an impulsive offer to marry and take one last wild ride through life.
And in Summer, Fire. When Los Angeles woman Donica Kelly has a breakdown during a rush hour commute, she is helped by a handsome stranger, only to find herself almost instantly up a tree with no way down.
Final Arrangements. A young successful woman is thrown for a loop when a handsome but crazy talking stranger claims she has been given to him in marriage by her deceased father.
Firefight. An ex-Navy SEAL who is down on his luck agrees to freelance for the local mafia Don and soon finds himself the target of multiple assassins.
Retribution Page 14